Customer Reviews

Down by the Station

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is by far my 2 year old son's favorite book and he has lots of them. Whenever it's time to read to him he says "toot toot" and I know that means he wants to have this book read to him, sometimes several times in a row. The illustrations are wonderful, and there is all sorts of stuff going on if you look closely. An all around great, fun book, I highly recommend this book.

My 3 year old is crazy about this book! The story (tune) is easy for him to sing along with, and the pictures are adorable. They really tell the story. There is so much detail to the pictures that we can spend lots of time on each page - "do you see where the balloon went this time?" "what is the elephant doing now?". I also absolutely love it that there are very diverse children in the book - even a little girl in a wheelchair. This is now one of my regular "gift" books for all new babies, too.

My 2 1/2 year old LOVES this book...and so do I! It is so great to curl up with this book and spend some time singing the song (complete with wonderful animal noises) while looking at the cheery illustrations. The loving animal families as well as the children of all colors, shapes and sizes (even one in a wheel chair) lead to fun discussions as we read. My five year old loves it too!

This book is based on the song "Down by the Station" that I remember singing as a child. The words are fun (with words like "puff, puff, toot, toot, thrump, thrump") and tell of a train picking up all sorts of animal passengers. The illustrations are fun, showing what appear to be Mom and Dad animals sending their children on the train to the zoo.

I would recommend this for children ages 2-5, especially. They will like the repetitive text and the fun noises of the train, as well as the colorful illustrations.

"Did you ever wonder who rides the train early in the morning, before the zoo opens?" [from flyleaf]

Well the answer is a variety of fun baby animals who carry on in the silliest way. And this nice little book captures it all. With warm, colorful art and a catchy rhyme, it can't help but draw in young children by showing them how every day the train comes and picks up all the baby animals to get them into place before the kids arrive at the zoo.

[Someone mentioned in a previous review that this made them sad. That it seemed as if the babies were being taken from their parents. We think they misunderstood however, because it seems pretty clear to us (LOL) that the train is merely going around the zoo grounds in the morning, picking up the animal babies just like the school bus pick ups human children in the morning returning them home in the evening. ]

The first on the little train is the lady zookeeper with her pet monkey and bird (we are pretty sure it's a penguin). After that the train proceeds to pickup a variety of baby animals: elephant, flamingo, panda, tiger, seal, and kangaroo.

And all the time that the zoo train is picking up the animal babies, a school bus is bringing human babies to the zoo. In fact, the last pages show the children and the animals playing together. The zookeeper and the teacher are holding a jump rope while a girl and a joey are jumping.

Four Stars. Great fun. I like that they label each animal baby appropriately as cub, pup, or joey, etc. There is lots for parents and children to look at, and it is a good opportunity to use the repetitive text for a little memory practice.

I bought this when my daughter was 1 year old. She loved learning all the different types of animals, vehicles (trains and school bus), role (mom, dad and baby), and places (train station, bridge, school, water fountain, park). It's great to help her learn many objects.

Now at 2, she starts getting more advanced on understanding situation (not just objects) and forming full sentences.
It also teaches about helping other friends who is in trouble, saying good bye to parents to go have fun and play with your friends/go to school (I map it to go to day care), motion (going up and down, long train and shorter school bus), colors, occupation and function (buying ticket for train ride, getting onto the train, engine driver, teacher) and so much more.

On top of that, you can sing the song together with her. Such a fun book.

This book is one of the favorite non "go to sleep book". I am sure this book will keep my daughter entertain for many years to come.

This is a fantastic sing-along with creative illustrations! My two-year old son and I can't read it enough! You'll be humming the tune all day long!

This has been a favorite in our house since my daughter turned two - she is now almost three. We never get tired of the great illustrations or the song! We highly recommend this version.

Anyone whose read books to children knows the power of a catchy song melody to interest and involve a child in the story. I've always loved reading aloud books that feature song lyrics for precisely this reason--it allows me to get the maximum interest without the effort that can go into a more text-driven read. Many people will already be familiar with some version of Down By the Station. It's a catchy and simple tune that shouldn't be too hard to pick up, even for parents without much of a singing voice.

Some of Will Hillenbrand's wordings may differ from the version you know, but the book itself is a charming romp through the zoo as the conductor picks up baby animals from all over the grounds and brings them ultimately to the petting zoo at the end of the story, where the children all enter in to play with them. Older kids will be able to name the animals before you sing the names. As the list of sounds increases, I tend to add some kind of hand motion for each sound, so as to increase audience participation. So for instance, "puff, puff" gets clenched hands opening up like a small puff of air being released, and "toot, toot" gets the action a hand pulling on a chain for the horn. You can make up your own motions for each sound, or not as you choose.

The artwork is bright and colorful and cartoon-style, though the images themselves have a softness to them that allows this to also work well for a baby book. The amount of detail in these pictures will probably make the illustrations harder for a group to see, and may not interest a younger toddler as much, but the song lyrics and the fact that this is a train book usually make up for that. At the back of the book, the song lyrics and musical score is provided for those who would require or are interested in the melody of the tune. I'd recommend this book for 0-5 year olds and have yet to find a child that doesn't enjoy the book. The library copies are all well loved and need frequent replacing. Mr. Hillenbrand is a master of children's books and many of his creations are available for puchase!

For those who enjoy this story, you may want to also try out books like The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort, and Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow--two song books that are also favorites of mine!

Happy Reading! ^_^ Shanshad

My 3 year old loves this book. We have read it so many times I have it memorized. A must for any children's book collection.